As per Army Rules and Regulations, the findings of the court-martial are to be confirmed by the convening authority of the trial, which in this case, was the GOC-in-C Western Command, Lt Gen RP Singh.

With the GOC-in-C not confirming the verdict, the Army may now take administrative action against the Colonel, who retires next month.

A Colonel who has twice been found not guilty by a General Courts Martial (GCM) on the charges of outraging the modesty of a woman employee of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) now faces possible administrative action after the General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command did not confirm the verdict of the trial.

The court-martial in Meerut had found the Colonel not guilty of the charges levelled against him. However, the verdict was not accepted by the higher authorities and was sent back to the court for reconsideration. On the second instance too, the accused was found not guilty by the court-martial.

As per Army Rules and Regulations, the findings of the court-martial are to be confirmed by the convening authority of the trial, which in this case, was the GOC-in-C Western Command, Lt Gen RP Singh.

With the GOC-in-C not confirming the verdict, the Army may now take administrative action against the Colonel, who retires next month.

The case dates back to 2015 when a woman employee of NCC working in Delhi alleged that the Colonel held her hand when she was serving tea to him. He was tried under Section 69 of the Army Act read with Section 354 of the IPC. The officer had made counter-allegations in his defence saying that he had been made a scapegoat as the original target was a Colonel of the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) branch who had been raising issues of impropriety in the Directorate General of NCC.

The officer had also levelled allegations in writing against a Brigadier of JAG branch stating that he had demanded Rs 5 Lakh bribe for getting him off the hook and on his refusal to pay the amount, had allegedly ensured that he faced court-martial.

Alleging that there was a tug-of-war between civilian officers of the NCC headquarters and Army officers, the Colonel had stated in his petition before Armed Forces Tribunal that one of the civilian officers, who was involved in the unsavoury turf battles and played a role in setting up the trap, has been made the head of the inquiry in his case. Misuse of government transport by the civilian officers, including the inquiry panel head, for commutation from residence to the office, and drawing privileges of a higher grade than what was authorised by her has also been alleged in the petition.

The Colonel had also levelled serious allegations in his petition about corrupt activities being covered up in Delhi’s NCC Headquarters on the behest of senior officers.

It is also learnt that the officer has now presented before the Western Command authorities that no reason has been provided to him of non-confirmation of the verdict. He has stated that the charge against him has tarnished his military character and reputation of his family permanently. He has asked for reasons to be provided to him for non-confirmation of the verdict so that he can challenge it in a court of law.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to boost ‘Make in India’ in defence sector, including raising the FDI limit in manufacturing to 74%

While raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in defence manufacturing to 74 per cent from the current 49 per cent as part of the fourth tranche of the economic stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will notify a list of weapons and platforms for ban on import with year-wise timelines.

This is a first for the sector in India.

The FM also stressed that there would be indigenisation of imported spares and separate provisioning for domestic capital procurement.

The indigenisation of spare parts has been in the works for long. It was kickstarted by former defence minister Manohar Parrikar.

Calling these “structural reforms”, Sitharaman said these steps will reduce the huge defence import bill.

Last year, India ranked as the second biggest importer of defence equipment in the world. India was the top importer for over a decade but last year’s ranking did not take into account the slew of multi-billion-dollar deals — S-400 Triumf air defence system, lease of a nuclear submarine, manufacturing of frigates and AK 203 — signed between India and Russia in the last three years, deliveries of which are yet to start.

Sitharaman also said the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) would be corporatised, but underlined that this was not privatisation. The OBF runs 41 factories across the country and its corporatisation has been under public discussion for some time.

The hike in FDI limit in defence manufacturing will come as a huge relief for foreign companies who have been consistently asking the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to give them the controlling stake in a joint venture.

The FM also announced a time-bound defence procurement process besides setting up of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to support contract management. She stressed setting up realistic demands for weapons and platforms that are intended to be purchased.

She also said the government has decided to overhaul trial and testing procedures.

The study for the period 2014-19 has found that 80% of limb injuries were due to explosions caused by artillery shells and anti-personnel landmines.

Published in the latest issue of the Journal of Marine Medicine, the study on limb injuries shows that 80 per cent of such injuries, between 2014 and 2019, were due to explosions caused by artillery shells and anti-personnel landmines (APLM).

“From January 2014 to December 2019, we received 272 casualties, of which 166 (61.02 per cent) were with limb injuries”, said the study, Limb Injuries in Combat Trauma, compiled by Colonel Sanjay Maurya, Lt Colonel Vipin V. Nair, Colonel Onkar Singh and Lt Colonel S.K. Singh.

The analysis, however, is based only on 166 cases of injuries and not the fatal casualties. It is also from one tertiary care centre, which is likely to be the Command Hospital, Udhampur, in Jammu and Kashmir as the study has focussed on the western sector.

“Seventy-three (43.9 per cent) casualties had isolated upper limb injuries, 71 (42.77 per cent) had isolated lower limb injuries, and 22 (13.2 per cent) casualties had concomitant injuries,” the study said. “A total of 112 (67.4 per cent) injuries were caused by explosives or fragmentation devices, whereas 54 (32.5 per cent) were caused by bullets.”

It added that in most wars, fragmentation devices account for the majority of injuries. Fragmentation devices include IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar fire, APLM, and artillery shells.

Also read: CDS Bipin Rawat to work on items for import ban, artillery guns could be included

Artillery shells, landmines the worst offenders

The study also found that of the 112 injured, most had been hit by artillery shells or affected by landmines (APLMs).

“When we specified the explosive device, it was found that 80 per cent of these were caused by artillery shells and APLM,” the study said. “This high incidence is due to continuing hostilities across the Western border, where artillery shelling by the hostile nation is a constant feature.

“The movement of troops in the region of APLM during CI Ops also contributed to such high figures of landmine injuries. These findings can have implications for its administrative and logistic support for the military commanders,” the study added.

The study also underlined the importance of wearing body armour — bullet-proof jackets and helmets — which it said had improved the survivability of soldiers and the reason why 60 to 70 per cent of all injuries were recorded to hands and limbs.

The study itself is unique because it has for the first time evaluated limb injuries in a combat zone. It also demonstrates the grade of injuries, hospitalisation time, number of surgeries, and their correlation in the ongoing military operations by the Indian Armed Forces.

This study will be helpful for the Army commanders because it can form a basis of logistic and administrative support in providing quality combat trauma care and also focus on preventive aspects.

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Khutra (Doda), May 17

In a breakthrough, security forces today killed a top militant, a close associate of Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Saifullah, in a gun battle at Khutra village of Doda district. An Army jawan also lost his life in the operation.

Slain militant was behind RSS leader’s killing

• The slain HM commander was involved in killing of RSS leader & his PSO in Kishtwar and IED blast near CRPF convoy last year
• He was directed by HM to revive terrorism in Chenab region by targeting security forces and carrying out ‘sensational attacks’

The jawan has been identified as Naik Raj Singh of 10 Rashtriya Rifles belonging to Gurugram, Haryana.

The slain militant was identified as Hizb commander Tahir Ahmed Bhat of Malangpora in Kashmir’s Pulwama district. According to the police, Tahir was involved in the killing of RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO in Kishtwar district in April last year.

The police said joint teams of Army’s RR, police and CRPF launched an operation on Saturday.

“The village was cordoned off and around 8 am, search parties came under fire, to which security personnel retaliated. The militant took shelter in a house. In the initial firing, an Army jawan was injured and he succumbed on way to hospital,” said a source.

The security forces blew up the house and later found the body of the militant. An AK-47 rifle, snatched during RSS leader’s killing, was also recovered.

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Mohali, May 17

Ex-DGP Punjab Sumedh Singh Saini on Sunday appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in a case registered against him and other policemen in abduction and disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani in Mataur police station.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the former DGP had arrived at 4 pm before the SIT and the questioning continued till 5.30 pm. He said the SIT had questioned him about the case, the details of which cannot be revealed.

The roads leading to the office of the SSP had been sealed by the police till ex-DGP Saini appeared before the SIT.

According to sources, the police had cordoned off the area after Saini had requested the police for the same as he did not wish to meet anyone else except the SIT.

Pertinently ex-DGP Saini was summoned by SIT after the local court on May 11 had granted him anticipatory bail.

The court had ordered Saini to join investigation within a week and also submit the passport to the police. The court had further restricted him not to come out of his house till the lockdown period in view of the coronavirus was over.

Following the directions of the court, Saini had submitted his passport and gave undertaking that he was ready to join the investigations and was residing at the said address.

Earlier the Mohali police had constituted the SIT headed by Superintendent of Police Harmandep Singh Hans (Investigation) along with Deputy Superintendent of Police Bikramjit Singh Brar and Inspector Rajiv Kumar SHO Mataur police station to probe the case.

Palwinder Singh Multani, brother of victim Balwant Singh, had filed a complaint against the former DGP in Mohali on May 6 and the case was registered under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abduction in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 344 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to exhort confession) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy).

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 17

A senior Himachal Pradesh Police officer has revealed that Chinese helicopters intruded several km iide Indian airspace in the state on two occasions last month.

Rajesh Dharmani, Superintendent of Police, Lahaul-Spiti district which shares the international border with China, told a section of the media that a Chinese helicopter had entered 12-15 km into India in the Sumdo area on April 11. Then, on April 20 another Chinese helicopter intruded into the same area.

The area in question lies to the south of Demchok in Ladakh, a region that sees significant Chinese activity and incursions. Earlier this month, there were reports of a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh and Sikkim.

A senior officer at Headquarters Western Command, Chandimandir, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, however, declined to comment on the matter, saying that only the central government would respond to reports of any such cross border incident.

He added that all activities along the border are monitored by different agencies regularly and any untoward or unusual incident is reported and shared amongst them as per established protocols. The peacetime management of the border is with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Forces that maintains posts on the zero line.

There have been reported instances of Chinese helicopters violating Indian airspace in Himachal Pradesh earlier. Apart from Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur is the other district in the state that shares borders with China. The Western Command’s formation, 26 Infantry Brigade that is responsible for this area, is headquartered in Pooh, which is about 11 km from the border as the crow flies.

A limited cross-border trade amongst locals on both sides is also conducted through the Sipki La pass along the Sutlej river during summers.